The present invention generally relates to various devices employing photonic crystals. The present invention specifically relates to a control of electromagnetic waves interaction with a medium employing liquid crystal.
Photonic crystals as known in the art are defined as a space domain, which confines a repetitive spatial distribution of dielectric or magnetic material properties. Photon energy distribution delimited within a photonic crystal depicts xe2x80x9cenergy bandsxe2x80x9d having shapes that characterize propagation modes for selectively reflecting, transmitting and absorbing a propagation of energy in the form of light or electromagnetic waves through the photonic crystal. The shape of the energy bands are a function of the repetitive spatial dielectric distribution of the photonic crystal. Accordingly, a variation in the repetitive spatial dielectric distribution varies the shapes of the energy band gaps to thereby establish a different propagation mode of the photonic crystal.
The present invention is a photonic crystal being electrically configurable among a plurality of propagation modes. Various aspects of the present invention are novel, non-obvious, and provide various advantages. While the actual nature of the present invention covered herein can only be determined with reference to the claims appended hereto, certain features, which are characteristic of the embodiments disclosed herein, are described briefly as follows.
An electrical configurable photonic crystal in accordance with the present invention comprises a liquid crystal, an electrode plate and a plurality of electrode pixels. In one form, the electrode plate and the electrode pixels are operable to configure the liquid crystal as a photonic crystal in response to a selective application of one or more electric potentials between the electrode plate and one or more electrode pixels. In a second form, an electrical interaction between the electrode plate and one or more of the electrode pixels establishes one or more biased liquid crystal regions with the liquid crystal. In a third form, the electrode plate and a first electrode pixel are operable to establish a biased liquid crystal region within the liquid crystal in response to an application of a first electric potential between the electrode plate and the first electrode pixel.
The foregoing forms as well as other forms, features and advantages of the present invention will become further apparent from the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments, read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The detailed description and drawings are merely illustrative of the present invention rather than limiting, the scope of the present invention being defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.